Rice, Black-eyed Peas and Swiss Chard

Last summer at our family farm my cousin, Rusty, who by the way is an amazing cook! A low fat cook? No way but a totally amazing cook for sure! He has a huge vegetable farm up in Dahlonega and had brought some fresh Swiss chard and made a delicious dish that was similar to this. Today just happens to be his birthday, happy birthday Cuz! I brought the idea home and tweaked it just right to make still delicious but also really healthy. This could honestly be a meal in itself!

Ingredients:

1 t olive oil

1 t butter

1 large onion, diced

1 t garlic, minced

6 slices Canadian Bacon

4 cups cooked brown rice

1 large bunch Swiss chard, chopped

1 can black-eyed peas, partially drained

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat a large pot over high heat and add olive oil. Next add the onion and Canadian Bacon, continually stirring so they do not brown but just cook. After about 5 minutes add the garlic and continue to stir, at this time add the butter and continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Add your rice (side note about the rice: I always cook my brown rice in chicken stock instead of water I season the stock with garlic & onion powder plus some salt and pepper). Once the rice is added throw in your black-eyed peas and Swiss Chard, it will look like a huge pile of chard but it will cook down and you will wish you had more! Stir it around until your Swiss Chard has wilted and your black-eyed peas are warm then serve. Add salt and pepper to taste (and maybe a little garlic powder if you think it needs it some extra flavor but it should be perfect! The Canadian Bacon adds great flavor.

In case you haven't seen Swiss Chard, it looks like this, isn't it gorgeous?



Yum!



Weight Watcher Friends: This serves between 6-8 people as a side dish and 4 as a main dish. It has 5.5 points as a side dish and when you divide it into 4 servings it has just over 8 points per serving. So yummy, hearty and really delicious!